


The Life and Times of Zayn the Zombie

by anecdotalist



Series: Not a Zombie Apocalypse [2]
Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Implied Niall Horan/Harry Styles, M/M, Unbeta'd, firefighter!Liam, sort of character death in that zayn dies and becomes a zombie, the others are a surprise, zombie!Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-17
Updated: 2015-01-17
Packaged: 2018-03-07 23:59:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3188153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anecdotalist/pseuds/anecdotalist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn dies and wakes up a zombie and this is his (after)life. </p><p>This started out as a little companion fic to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/2548778/chapters/5666378">I wonder if you ever see the sun</a> but grew to a small monstrosity. It would probably help if you had read the first fic but not necessary, I don't think.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Life and Times of Zayn the Zombie

**Author's Note:**

> This is meant to take place in the UK and I did as much research as I could to make this factually accurate but I'm not British so there may be some inaccuracies or incorrect slang use. Please, if there's something that's really wrong here and is jarring to you, let me know. I'm willing to make edits.
> 
> 1/31/2015: Just cleaning up the tags and summary.

Zayn Malik was just a normal, average, half-British, half-Pakistani boy, okay. He loved to sleep, hated waking up early; loved English, hated Math; loved spending time with his friends and families, hated doing his homework. He loved to sing and he lived for art but he was realistic enough to go to Uni for a teaching degree because he wanted stable employment.

He was walking home late one night from the library (finishing up a paper for his World Lit class) when a car turned the corner in front of him, swerving dangerously and going far too fast.

The headlights flashed in his eyes and blinded him for a few precious seconds.

There was a loud screech of tires.

Something hit him with shocking strength and he went flying through the air. 

He landed against something. Hard.

There was a burst of pain and then everything went dark. 

Life as he knew it was over.

+

**6 months later**

Zayn woke up lying on his back on some grass. It was quiet and dark around him and he spent a few disoriented minutes just blinking up at the stars. Gradually, the distant sound of children's laughter filtered through to him and he rolled over, slowly pushing himself up so he was kneeling on the grass. His vision was a little blurry around the edges but as he looked around, he saw that he was surrounded by tombstones. He must be in a cemetery then. But why? How did he end up here? He wracked his brains but found it really hard to recall anything besides his name.

He rested one hand on the stone in front of him, planning on using it to leverage himself to a standing position. Then the inscription caught his eyes. _Zayn Malik, January 12, 1993 - April 30, 2014. Beloved son, brother, friend. Taken from us too soon._

Oh. So he was dead. Is that why he had a memory gap? His thoughts were sluggish but he thought vaguely that he should be reacting more strongly to this news than he was. But he didn't have the energy for that right now.

He struggled to stand and staggered almost immediately. Unsteadily, he made his way around the tombstones, using them as needed to stay on his feet. A couple of times, he walked into one of the stones and nearly fell but it never hurt. He felt actually like he was floating but when he looked down, his feet were still on the floor. He just couldn't feel the floor under him. Huh.

He stumbled out onto the sidewalk and dodged a group of kids running by him, swinging bags and baskets. He squinted after them in confusion. Were they wearing masks?

"Hey man, cool costume!" someone said, passing by him. It had been very soft and muffled and Zayn shook his head, wondering why he was having trouble hearing someone who was right next to him.

He continued shuffling his way along the sidewalk, vision alternately blurring and clearing up though everything stayed in black and white.

He picked up a discarded plastic bag and followed a group of kids wearing capes and face masks and wigs as they went up to a house and knocked. Zayn stood back and watched, swaying on his feet. When they got their treats and left, he stepped up to the woman who smiled and dropped some candy into his bag.

"Can...you..." he started. Why was it so hard to find the words he wanted to say?

The woman opened her mouth and started saying something but he couldn't hear her so he leaned in just in time to catch "...can't give you any more, sorry."

"No...that's -" but she had already stepped back and closed the door.

Zayn sighed and shuffled over to the next house. Surely, someone could help him. He was just so tired, though, it was literally getting hard to lift his arms. The person in this house, again, just gave him candy and waved him away with a smile without bothering to listen to him. He wished someone would just take a moment and see that something else was going on with him instead of just Halloween. But he kept going. What else could he do after all?

But as the night went on, he kept getting more candy and no help, and soon, the streets were clearing out and people were getting more reluctant to open their doors. After awhile, he took a break from that and just wandered, absently eating some of the chocolate he'd gotten and musing on the unfairness of life. Or death, rather. It was all quite confusing. He wondered what he was now and ran through all the types of supernatural undead creatures he could think of. He ran this tongue over his teeth and they didn't feel any sharper than before so he didn't think he was a vampire. That left zombie or ghoul. He thought maybe they were a bit similar except that ghouls were a bit more dim. And they didn't sound as cool as zombies. No one made movies about ghouls. He nodded slowly to himself. Zombie it was.

Eventually, the sky started progressively turning lighter shades of gray: the sun was rising. He didn't know what part of the city he had wandered into but it seemed very residential - small houses lined both sides of the tree-lined streets, one or two cars parked in every driveway. He rounded a corner and stopped suddenly. There was one house half a block away that was in color - a bright splash of beige walls, brown tiled roof, green grass, and white picket fence standing out in the middle of a gray landscape.

Zayn perked up. There was obviously something special about that house! He must have been meant to go there. But when he knocked, there was no answer. He almost turned to go, feeling dejected, but then determination flared up within him. No. He will not give up. He had just spent all night walking around aimlessly and this was his best shot for help. So, he kept knocking. And knocking. And knocking. Then, finally, he heard it: "I'm coming!"

When the door opened, Zayn found himself staring at the brightest, most beautiful person he had ever seen. He was just a little taller than Zayn and had his light brown hair slicked back. Zayn tilted his head. The man actually looked a bit like Justin Timberlake, except there was no way Justin was living in a small residential neighborhood in some small suburban city in Britain.

"Nice costume, mate, but you're a bit late for Halloween, aren't you?" the other man said, stifling a yawn adorably. Unlike everyone else he had come across last night, this man's voice came through loud and clear for Zayn.

Zayn scowled at the reminder of his night and shook his bag of goodies at the other man. "Already got tons here, don't I? You knock on people's doors and all they want to do is shove sugary sweets at you and tell you to go away. I need your help."

Luckily, the man - Liam Payne, he had introduced himself later - let him in, listened to his story, and actually believed him. He was a firefighter, a semi-decent cook, and a fan of comic books and superheroes. He was also incredibly nice and funny and kind and fit and Zayn thought that it was incredibly ironic that he had met the perfect man after he was already dead.

He went and showered when Liam suggested it, even though he really couldn't smell anything off about himself. Once in front of the mirror, he could see that he was covered in dirt and his skin was gray, black hair lanky and brittle. He stifled a groan. Great first impression he must have made. There was dirt caked under his fingernails too. Did he dig himself out of his grave? He had no memory of doing so. But he also didn't know how else he could have gotten out. He undressed and turned on the shower, turning the water all the way up in order to get it warm enough for him. As the layers of dirt washed away in brown-colored water, he saw that there were multiple scratches and discolorations on his body from the things he had run into during his nighttime wandering. He thought vaguely that they should hurt but they didn't.

As he reveled in the warmth of the shower - he hadn't realized just how cold he had been until now - he absently started humming under his breath. Soon, it became a full-voiced rendition of Thriller, though a different version than what he thought the original sounded like. It came pretty naturally to him so he thought he must have sung this version more than a couple of times before he had died.

When he finally got out, he did feel better. Liam was right after all, he did need a shower. He carefully toweled his hair dry, having a sudden thought that now that he was dead, his hair may not be as resilient and he really didn't want to spend his afterlife bald. Then he wiped the condensation from the mirror and gasped at how burnt he looked. The water had obviously been too hot. He grimaced and touched his face lightly, wary of the pain he remembered hearing about with sunburns. But there was nothing. He pressed harder and the skin blanched but still no pain.

He shrugged and got dressed in the clothes that Liam had left him, struggling a bit with tying the knot on the sweatpants as that was apparently a much more difficult task when one's sense of touch was significantly reduced. There was a lot to learn about this new life of his.

+

He was tempted but didn't actually try to get high that first night at Liam's place - Liam didn't have anything, for one, and his pockets had apparently been emptied out before he'd been buried, for another - but he did try to get himself off and was very disappointed when not only was he not able to get it up but he also didn't have much desire to any longer. He paced the house a couple of times and eventually found himself wandering out into Liam's backyard and lying down among the daisies. He'd never properly appreciated them when he was alive, but they were quite soft to lay on and smelled nice. As he contemplated the stars, he wondered what would happen to him. Would he just continue on forever like this? Or would he keep falling apart? Would he still be alive, in whatever way he is now, when he was just bones? At what point would he lose awareness?

He also wondered how his family was doing and briefly considered contacting them. But no, they wouldn't understand and in any case, they had already mourned him once. No use telling them he had come back from the dead if he was just going to die for real later.

Maybe this was a second chance for him. Or maybe this was the afterlife and everyone who died became a zombie. That was kind of a weird possibility; he didn't know how he felt about that. Should he look for his deceased relatives then?

And fuck, he was _starving_. But he'd rummaged through Liam's cabinets earlier and didn't see anything that really appealed to him. He felt like he needed... _something_. Something very specific but he couldn't put a finger on it.

Movement interrupted his train of thought, and he looked over to see Liam standing on the porch. They had an easy rapport already, which Zayn was surprised about because it used to take him much longer to feel comfortable with new people. He didn't know if maybe death had changed that part of his personality or if there was just something about Liam. He was maybe a little more forward with him than he used to be with cute boys but what did he have to lose now? He was already dead; a lot of things that he had worried about before just seemed trivial. He also found that he loved teasing Liam and seeing him blush.

When he made the suggestion about brains, it was partly because he wanted to see Liam's reaction (which was hilariously adorable - he threw both arms up around his head as if to ward Zayn off from trying to chew through his skull) and partly because he had a theory that perhaps those stereotypes about zombies eating brains had some small kernel of truth in them. Though the idea of cracking open someone's head and eating their brains made him want to sick up a bit.

However, when Liam (bless him) returned with a package of raw brains, he could tell immediately that it really was what he had been craving. It smelled delicious, even though it didn't look like much - rather like ground beef, actually. He decided on a curry because it seemed like spiciness was one of the few flavors he could still taste and it was a dish that he was familiar enough with to know how to cook. He did _not_ anticipate nearly setting himself on fire because he couldn't feel the heat of the flames to know to avoid it but he had to admit that he enjoyed watching Liam cooking for him. He felt warm and tingly over the care Liam was taking to follow every one of his instructions, even if he was being picky about it (he was just very particular about his food, okay).

When he ate the brains, he felt a rush of energy the like of which he had never experienced. It was better than being alive, better even than being high. He just felt, for a brief time, like he was invincible. Everything around him brightened and the world outside Liam's windows regained color. The perpetual silence dissipated as the distant sounds of birds singing and cars driving by filtered in. His heart started beating and he hadn't even realized that it wasn't before.

He looked over at Liam and everything settled in him. All he wanted to do was cuddle him and kiss him. But no, Liam wasn't ready for that yet. So, instead, he initiated another Marvel marathon. He had time; he could be patient. Something told him Liam was worth the wait.

Zayn was surprised at the physical changes that occurred after he ate the brains (namely, that all his injuries healed and his skin regained its color and elasticity), though it made sense that if things had changed for him on the inside, then they would on the outside too. His fondness for Liam grew at the other man's excitement though - he treated every new discovery like it was the most interesting thing in the world, and not like it was just another reason why Zayn was a freak of nature, which he probably was. If Liam had any sense in him at all, he would be trying his best to stay away from Zayn. But then again, he willingly ran into life-threatening situations just to try to help people. If that wasn't proof that he had more heart than sense, then Zayn didn't know what was.

"We should probably write all this down, so we can keep track and see if there are any patterns or whatnot," Liam suggested when they went back into the living room. He scrounged up some paper, grabbed a pen from the table, and sat down facing Zayn on the couch, legs folded under him, paper balanced on his knee to use as a writing surface. "So, when you first showed up, you were...."

"Tired," Zayn said, thinking back. "Pale. It was hard to think."

"Bad senses," Liam added, as he jotted down everything they both came up with.

"I was cold. Or rather, my skin was cold. I couldn't feel that. My heart wasn't beating."

Liam looked up curiously. "Really?"

Zayn nodded. "Or maybe it was just beating really, really slow. But it's almost normal now."

Liam hummed and started a new column. "What else now? Your skin's got some color. You feel warm."

"I have more energy. I can see colors again. And I can hear sounds outside."

"You couldn't see or hear things before? But we've been talking and you seemed fine."

"Yeah. I don't know, mate. For some reason, everything was kinda blurry. And black and white. Except your house. And you. Everyone else - their voices were so soft, I could barely hear them. But it was different with you." Zayn shrugged. "I don't know why."

"Huh. I wonder if I'm some kind of supernatural catnip or something."

"No," Zayn said fiercely, anger bubbling up in him at the thought of other undead people being drawn towards Liam. "You're just mine!"

Liam drew back, looking shocked and Zayn deflated.

"Sorry, I don't know why I reacted like that."

"I...it's okay. I think."

"You've been taking this really well," Zayn said after a brief awkward silence, bringing up a question that he'd been struggling with all day. If a zombie had showed up at _his_ door, he didn't think he'd have reacted as well as Liam did.

Liam shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. "Aha, well, not really. I just had my panic attack when you were in the shower yesterday. And y'know, I always figured there was more to this universe than we ever knew? I just never thought I'd be a part of it!" Liam laughed. "Imagine, plain ol' Liam, getting mixed up in supernatural business. My friends from home would never believe it. I feel like I'm in a movie or something!"

"Hey," Zayn said intently, reaching out to touch Liam's hand lightly. "You're not plain anything. You were the brightest person I've ever seen, literally. That means you're special."

Liam blushed. "Thanks."

They went through and cataloged everything they could think of about Zayn before and after his meal. Later, when they were in the kitchen and Zayn was keeping Liam company while he made himself dinner, Liam suddenly asked, "Wait a minute, did you call me your _supernatural catnip_?!"

Zayn laughed loud and long. Maybe his new life wasn't going to be that bad after all, if he got to have Liam in it.

+

Unfortunately, Liam had to go to work the next day. He showed Zayn where the house phone was ("in case you need to call me") and wrote down his cell number (when Zayn pointed out that he couldn't exactly call a number he didn't have), reminded Zayn of all the leftover food in the fridge and the cereal in the pantry ("remember, no stove! I don't want you to burn yourself!"), gave Zayn the password to his laptop ("in case you get bored") and the spare keys ("so you're not stuck inside all day"), and then he left for a day shift at the fire station.

Zayn made it about two hours before he flopped listlessly on the couch, mindlessly channel-surfing. The house seemed eerily quiet and lonely when he knew that Liam wasn't going to be back anytime soon. He sighed loudly. How did he become so reliant on Liam's company so quickly?

He looked around for inspiration and finally pulled the laptop over to him, logging in and opening up the web browser. He thought about checking his email but then figured that it had probably been deleted when he died. Plus, he'd be automatically signed into the chat feature and that would be awkward to explain if any of his friends or family saw. He decided to create a new account instead and spent a few minutes amusing himself by coming up with ridiculous names. When he finally settled on one (zaynthezombie was still available so he took that to mean that if there were other zombies out there, they either didn't share his name or they didn't use email), he dialed Liam's cell.

"'lo?" Liam answered, sounding slightly out of breath.

"Hey, it's me."

Liam laughed on the other end. "I figured. No one else would be calling me from my home number. What's up?"

"Absolutely nothing, mate. Daytime television is trash."

"Yeah, it can be. But I've got tons of movies."

Zayn pouted, even though he knew Liam wouldn't be able to see him. "They're not as fun when you're not fidgeting next to me because you really want to tell me what happens next but you also really don't want to spoil it for me."

"Aww, well, I'll be back soon."

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, what are you doing? Why are you breathing so hard?"

"Oh, I was just boxing. I try to get in a workout when it's quiet around here."

Immediately, Zayn pictured a half-naked Liam with gloves on working a punching bag. Mmm.

"Zayn? You still there?"

"Oh. Yeah." Zayn shook himself out of his daydream. "Not really my thing."

"What? Boxing?"

"No, exercise."

Liam chuckled. "Well, it's not like you need it now anyway."

"Luckily. So anyway, what's your email?"

Liam rattled off his email address and then an alarm started blaring in the background and he had to go.

Zayn added Liam to his contacts and idly surfed the web googling zombies and recipes with brains. When he saw that Liam was back online on mobile, he opened up a chat window.

 **zaynthezombie:** hey, it's zayn

 **zaynthezombie:** the zombie

 **liamfightsfires:** believe it or not, ur name makes that pretty clear

Zayn snorted.

 **zaynthezombie:** sassy

 **liamfightsfires:** ;) 

**zaynthezombie:** call go okay? you saved the world?

 **liamfightsfires:** just a traffic accident. we weren't needed.

 **zaynthezombie:** that's good

They continued chatting throughout Liam's shift; whenever he had to leave for drills or calls, Zayn would do some cleaning, watch some television, find more recipes. About an hour before the end of his shift, Liam got called away and the television programme Zayn had on in the background was interrupted with a breaking news segment on a big fire in an apartment building. Zayn turned up the volume and watched nervously, knowing in his gut that this was where Liam was headed. Within seconds of the news report starting, more fire trucks arrived on the scene and Zayn wondered if Liam was in one of them, but he couldn't see anyone very clearly. His fists clenched unconsciously when firefighters swarmed out of the trucks and converged in a group in front of the building. At the direction of one of the men, everyone returned to the trucks, some of them rolling out the hoses and others suiting up in face masks and tanks.

Zayn didn't know how he knew this but he felt completely sure that Liam was one of the guys who was going to be entering the building looking for survivors. He'd only known the guy for two days but he could already tell that he'd be the type of person who would do something like that.

"Oh Liam, don't do anything stupid," he whispered fervently.

He held his breath as the firefighters started making their way inside the building, gingerly picking their way through the debris lying on the floor. He didn't start breathing again until Liam arrived home a couple of hours later looking exhausted and sweaty.

"Liam! You're okay!" Zayn jumped up, relief flooding him at the sight of the other boy whole and well.

At his call, Liam looked over and broke into a smile. "Zayn, hey!" Then he stopped and frowned. "Are you okay? You look kind of pale." 

"Hm?" Zayn took a look at his reflection in the hall mirror and yeah, he did seem have lost some color in his cheeks. As he watched, though, color was already returning. "That's weird."

"Yeah. What happened?"

"I dunno..." Zayn thought back to the past couple of tension-filled hours waiting to see if Liam was alright. He remembered taking in a big breath and then - "Oh, I...er, I think I forgot to breathe for awhile."

One of Liam's eyebrows twitched up incredulously. "You _forgot_ to _breathe_?"

"Well, I was worried about you and the fire! It's not like I ever had to think about breathing. It was just something my body did automatically! But not anymore, I guess." Zayn shrugged. "You look beat, though. You should go shower. I'll heat up something for you to eat."

Liam shot him a grateful smile and a heartfelt "thanks, mate, that'd be ace!" and shuffled into the bathroom. "We'll talk about that breathing thing again when I'm not so tired!" he called back just before the shower started running.

Later, Zayn sat at the table with a cup of tea in one hand and a scone in the other, listening intently and with not a little awe while Liam told him about finding and carrying people out of a burning building between bites of reheated meatloaf.

+

Liam had another day shift and then two overnight shifts before his allocated four days off. Zayn entertained himself by exploring every nook and cranny in Liam's home and seeing how long the changes brought about by the brains lasted. Liam sent him pictures of the search-and-rescue dog they had at the station, Loki, and selfies with various members of his team. _Louis keeps asking who i'm texting_ he'd sent with a picture of himself with a man who had tousled brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a mischievous smile. _Paul's the fire chief_ he'd attached to a picture of a muscle-bound guy giving the camera a small bemused smile.

On the day of his first overnight shift that week, Liam had woken from his nap, taken one look at Zayn's wan face and said "I think maybe it's time for you to finish off the brain curry."

Zayn had lost color vision of the outside world again so he agreed that there wasn't any point to waiting any longer. He and Liam had an early dinner together (him with his lamb brains and Liam with some spaghetti that he'd made from a can; Zayn resolved to learn how to cook more if only so he could properly repay Liam for his hospitality) and then Liam left for work and Zayn went back to his new favorite hobby: creeping through online supernatural role-playing forums. He had found them during a search for information on supernatural creatures and he enjoyed reading the character biographies. Given his own situation, he wondered how many of them, if any, were real stories.

When Liam got back from his shift the next morning, he had another package of lamb brains with him. Zayn could smell it even before Liam had walked in the door.

"Aw, Leeyum! For me? You shouldn't have!" Zayn cooed, giving him a hug as soon as he was inside and taking the chance to breathe in the mild cologne Liam wore.

"You're going to need it eventually," Liam shrugged with a faint blush.

Zayn took the packet from him and couldn't help giving it a fond pat before storing it in the fridge. 

When he got back, Liam flashed him an amused smile and then tilted his head in the direction of the living room. "I'm in the mood for some Toy Story. You wanna join?"

Zayn smiled and nodded eagerly. 

+

He made some popcorn while Liam got settled and then under the pretense of sharing the snack with Liam, he sat down right next to the other boy instead of at the other end of the couch. The two of them shifted around a bit throughout the movie and whenever their thighs or knees brushed, little zings of electricity sparked out from the point of contact. They made Zayn feel truly alive again. Liam seemed to have felt them too because he'd glance over at Zayn with a small smile and nudge in a bit more before moving back.

About midway through the movie, Liam leaned back and stretched his arms out along the back of the couch. Zayn debated for a few tense minutes and then finally set the bowl of popcorn down on the coffee table and sat back too, holding his breath. He could feel Liam's body tense up as well and he hoped Liam wasn't about to shove him off the couch for trying to cuddle.

He was about to cave under the pressure and ask Liam if he was okay with this when he felt Liam's arm drop down around his shoulders. His hand curled lightly against Zayn's arm and Zayn let himself relax into it, shifting just a bit closer to the other boy so that they were touching all down their sides. He heard Liam exhale quietly and felt the tension drain out of his body as well. He smiled and refocused on the movie, feeling thankful that he had already seen it several times because he had no idea what had been happening to Woody and Buzz during the past few minutes.

+

They had their first date, of sorts, on Liam's first day off. Liam wanted to do some grilling before it got too chilly so they made a couple of patties (ground beef for Liam, ground brain for Zayn) and assembled a couple of burgers for lunch. Then Liam insisted on the two of them going out shopping because Zayn hadn't left the house all week.

"What if people see that I'm not human?" Zayn protested.

Liam waved aside his concerns. "No one's even going to think to question it, mate. Plus, you just had some brains so you're all freshly human-looking," he added, giving Zayn a quick look up and down. "You look fine."

Zayn leered. "Oh? That's it? Just fine?"

Liam arched an eyebrow in amusement. "Alright, you look an unholy degree of _fine_ considering you're a member of the undead population."

"I don't know if that's actually a better compliment," Zayn pouted.

Liam laughed. "Come on, I just want to take you out somewhere."

"You mean _out_ out?"

Liam looked hesitant and then said, "Yeah. Do you...want to?"

Zayn forced himself to give a reserved little nod and smile instead of fist-pumping like he was mentally doing.

So they went to a shopping centre and when Zayn decided to try his luck and threaded his arm through Liam's, he nearly swooned when the other boy tugged him in closer so that their hips bumped together as they walked (he would have swooned, most likely, if his body still needed things like oxygen and blood circulation). Liam insisted on buying him some new clothes because he didn't want Zayn to be "forced" to keep wearing his (Zayn had to bite his tongue to keep from saying that he liked wearing Liam's clothes, actually). Then he bought Zayn a set of art supplies that Zayn couldn't help eyeing (he really missed painting, okay, he couldn't help it). Then, when Zayn started protesting vehemently against further purchases, Liam took him to a restaurant for dinner where he, again, paid for everything. Zayn started plotting ways he could possibly make some money so that he could return the favor; he felt bad mooching off of the other boy. Also, he started wondering if this qualified him as a rent boy.

On the drive home, Liam was fidgety nearly the whole way and kept sneaking glances at Zayn out of the corner of his eyes.

"Is something wrong, Li?" Zayn finally asked.

Liam shook his head tightly and maintained a nervous silence for several blocks and then suddenly burst out with, "I looked up necrophilia."

"...okay?" Zayn looked over curiously. He did not know what that could possibly have to do with anything they had talked about at dinner (mostly Zayn's former life and Liam's childhood, their favorite Marvel superhero, their thoughts on when flying cars would finally be invented).

Liam was looking straight ahead, avoiding eye contact. His leg jiggled up and down and he gnawed on his lip for a couple of seconds. "...do you think it counts as that if I kiss you? Since you're, you know, dead. Technically. But like, I kind of want to. And when I say 'kind of,' I mean 'really.'"

To be honest, Zayn really didn't know. But he wanted to kiss Liam too so he said that no, it didn't count as necrophilia. 

Liam kissed him at the foot of the stairs before he disappeared with a blush up to his room and Zayn went to camp out on the couch with a smile he couldn't get rid of.

+

Zayn met Niall a couple of weeks later while Liam was at work. Or rather, he came across the profile of a gamer called aNIALLator with an origin story very similar to his - died too young, woke up in a graveyard on Halloween a year ago, liked eating brains because they gave him life. He knew it wasn't much to go on (those kinds of details seemed to come pretty standard for zombies) but he figured he didn't have much to lose.

So he messaged the other lad and got a response pretty quick. They chatted a couple of times, at all hours of the day and night. Zayn didn't know if the other lad really was a zombie like he was or just had terrible sleep problems. He answered Zayn's questions about being a zombie with answers that Zayn had found to be true, like needing to eat brains about every two or three days and not needing to sleep. Zayn had even tried to trick him (he didn't rise from the grave just yesterday, okay; he knew that it was more likely people were just making up zombie stories than that they were actually real zombies) by asking if his sense of smell was stronger as a zombie but Niall had said that no, actually, he found that his senses dulled if he went too long without brains.

Niall told him that after he had woken up in an Irish graveyard, he had been drawn to his brother's house where he was currently staying. His brother, apparently, had had a very difficult time dealing with Niall's death and was struggling to raise a newborn son. He had been severely depressed until Niall returned and convinced him to get treatment. Now, Niall was taking on the role of caregiver for his nephew Theo while his brother and sister-in-law worked during the day; he spent his free time role-playing a zombie on the internet.

Finally, after conferring with Liam who agreed that Niall seemed to know a lot about real zombies and was either the real thing or knew a real zombie, he shared some of his own story which Niall took in without much prying. They eventually started video chatting and Zayn was a little charmed by the pale blond Irishman. He was introduced to Theo one day when Niall was babysitting and later to Niall's brother and sister-in-law. In turn, he pulled Liam in with him a couple of times to introduce him and couldn't help a wide grin at the way Liam cooed over Theo.

He didn't think much of their two stories until he met Liam's friends one night when he joined them for drinks after one of their shifts. Things had been going well between the two of them - they went out on Liam's days off, watched movies and cuddled on the couch when Liam came home from work, and chatted through email during Liam's shifts at the station.

Liam had been trying to get him to come out with them for weeks because he wanted them to properly meet Zayn as they had apparently been teasing Liam mercilessly about his attachment to his phone. Zayn finally agreed and prepped for it with a fresh meal of brains with his afternoon tea. Then he'd spent nearly an hour in front of the mirror doing his hair (just because he was dead didn't mean he couldn't take pride in his appearance) and then scrutinizing his eyes (not bloodshot), his cheeks (not hollowed), his teeth (sparkling white), and his gums (a healthy shade of red now). When he was finally satisfied that he looked human enough, he changed into a new pair of trousers and a light blue button down, the sleeves of which he rolled up to reveal some of the tattoos that he'd gotten while in uni. He'd thought about adding more but he wasn't sure whether they'd take now.

He grabbed the house keys and was just stepping out when he saw one of Liam's neighbors - an elderly woman with perfectly coiffed gray hair - walking her small dog. She looked startled and concerned to see him and he frowned.

"Aren't you chilly, love?" she called out and he realized that she was wearing a pea coat, hat and gloves - things that he was missing.

"Yes, absolutely, I was just in such a hurry," Zayn forced a light laugh and ducked back inside. Now that he thought about it, whenever he and Liam went out, Liam would routinely drape a coat over his shoulders before shrugging into his own. He'd always thought Liam was just being gentlemanly but he supposed the other man was also just being practical. He realized that even though he could feel what the temperature was, it didn't really affect him the way it had when he was alive. He'd have to set up a reminder to himself to take a coat whenever he was going out; he couldn't rely on elderly nosy neighbors always being around, even though it sometimes felt like they _were_.

He rummaged through the coat closet and emerged with one of Liam's black pea coats. It was a little large on him but he liked how if he buried his nose in the collar, he could smell Liam's cologne. After he'd shrugged it on and judged himself to be adequately bundled up for the weather, he made his second attempt at leaving. This time, there was no one in sight to criticize him so he locked the door, stuffed his hands into his pockets and set off at a brisk pace; the pub was actually one that he and Liam had gone to a couple of nights ago for dinner and it was only a couple of minutes away from Liam's house.

When he arrived, he took his cue from the other patrons and removed his coat, draping it over his arm while he looked for Liam. He spotted him easily at a round table in the back, light brown hair and big bright smile like a beacon in the crowd. He started making his way over and Liam looked up and grinned even more brightly when he saw him.

"Zayn!" he called out happily, hurrying over and giving him a hug. "You made it!"

"Yeah, of course," Zayn said, feeling a little puzzled. What would he have been doing that could have prevented him from coming?

Liam linked their fingers together and tugged gently, ever mindful now after that time he'd pulled a little too hard and accidentally dislocated Zayn's wrist (Zayn had thought it was funny but Liam had been horrified and wouldn't stop apologizing until it had been reset and mended with the aide of a brain nugget; they kept a pack of those in the freezer now in case of emergencies).

"Everyone, this is Zayn!" he announced when they reached the table.

"Hi Zayn," the group of guys chorused.

"Zayn, this is everyone on the Blue team."

"Aka the best firefighting team ever," a man Zayn recognized as Louis from Liam's pictures added, reaching over to shake his hand. He also recognized Paul and nodded his greetings to him and the others - Patrick ("Paddy"), Preston, and Luke.

He ended up seated in between Liam and Louis, with Liam's arm draped casually on the back of his chair. When Liam left to get another round for the table, Louis leaned in and the others ceased their own conversations to watch them, making Zayn feel nervous.

"Liam would kill me for saying this..." Louis started off lowly, focusing on tearing up his napkin. "but he wasn't in a very good place before you. He'd just gotten out of a long-term relationship. He, and all of us, had thought it was the real thing. But it wasn't. And it hurt him. He wasn't dealing well. He went out a lot and he was drinking more when he was off-duty." Louis looked up and around the table, where everyone was nodding somberly, and then looked intently at Zayn. "We're like family, get it? We risk our lives together, we spend probably more time together than we do with anyone else, and we always have each other's backs. So we made sure he never drank alone. And we made sure that if he was going to drink, he was going to have _some_ fun doing it. Because that girl, she wasn't worth Liam's time after all. And Liam's been really happy since he met you. So for now, you seem to be good for him. But if you hurt him, we'll tear you limb from limb."

Even though he was being given the threatening friend talk, Zayn felt a surge of relief at this evidence that Liam had people around him who cared about him. Because Zayn still sometimes wondered how long he'd be around or if the brains would stop revitalizing him one day and he would just disintegrate. He nodded firmly to Louis, trying to convey that he'd gotten the message.

Louis looked at him for a little longer, more thoughtful than intense this time, and then he grinned widely. "You're really good at this staring contest thing. Don't you have to blink?"

Oh, right.

He blinked in an exaggerated fashion at Louis and tried to play it off casually. It seemed to work. The rest of the guys broke into laughter and there was a general sense of release all around. Then Liam returned, thick fingers wrapped around the necks of several beer bottles, and Zayn lost track of what was going on around him as he started thinking about what kind of magic those fingers could do. Then he got distracted watching Liam's throat work as he swallowed his beer.

That night, after loading up on brains, oysters, and red wine, he lost himself in the feeling of Liam swallowing him down while those magical fingers of his teased him open and brought him to the edge again and again before letting him fall over.

+

He returned the favor, of course, and found out that he no longer had a gag reflex.

+

Also, Liam was a screamer. 

+

And a hair puller.

+

The first thing Liam did when he regained coherency (which, Zayn smugly noted, was a very long time) was to apologize for treating Zayn "so roughly."

Zayn laughed and hushed him. He liked it, actually, and didn't mind since a steady diet of brains was helping his hair grow out. Liam still looked mournful, though, so Zayn pulled him in and let him be the big spoon until he fell asleep. Zayn still didn't (couldn't) sleep but he liked staying in Liam's bed with him so he'd read a book or play games on Liam's phone while he slept. Sometimes, if he got bored or restless, he'd slip out and go downstairs for a snack or outside to sit on the porch. But he always returned before sunrise so he'd be there when Liam woke up.

"I love waking up next to you," Liam had murmured once, still half-asleep.

"Yeah? You don't feel creeped out that I've been watching you sleep all night?" Zayn had teased.

"I - well, you don't, do you?" Liam's brow had furrowed adorably, eyes still squeezed shut against the weak morning sunlight streaming in.

Zayn had chuckled. "No, babe, I keep busy. Well, mostly. Okay, sometimes, I might watch a little."

Liam had huffed out a small laugh and burrowed into the pillows. "That's okay, then," he'd said, voice muffled.

Zayn had smiled fondly down at him and wondered if this was why he'd come back from the dead, because he hadn't yet met this man who fit him so well they must have been meant to be together.

+

He brought this up in his next conversation with Niall (they were having regular weekly chats at this point, or Zombie Support Meetings as they jokingly called them) who agreed that that could be a legitimate possibility. He had a working theory that there must have been _some_ reason for certain people to be brought back and not others.

"Otherwise, the whole planet would be overrun by the undead, wouldn't it?" Niall asked, logically.

Zayn had to agree. It was just weird to think that he was one of the lucky ones to get a second chance.

"So what was your reason?" he asked.

Niall shrugged carelessly. "Dunno, mate. I'm just helping to raise Theo. Maybe he's meant to find the cure to cancer or something." Niall wasn't really _just_ helping to raise his nephew. He had found someone who set him up with a new identity and he had started investing in the London Stock Exchange. He did pretty well with it too but he swore he only wanted to make enough to pay his brother back for housing him and feeding him. Zayn suspected he was also saving up to help pay for his nephew's education.

"You were going to be a teacher, right?" Niall continued. At Zayn's nod, he said, "maybe you were meant to teach the next Einstein!"

"I was going to be an English teacher, bro."

Niall shrugged. "The next Shakespeare, then?"

Zayn considered. "Is that really a big enough reason to bring someone back from the dead?"

"I dunno. Maybe he or she is going to write the book that brings about world peace."

Zayn doubted it but let the conversation end there. However, the idea of teaching stayed with him for awhile. Could he still do that? He finally broached the topic with Liam one day, bracing himself for a gentle letdown (Liam hated letting people down but he'd do it if he had to).

But actually: "I think that'd be great! You should definitely do it. You'd be a great teacher," he enthused between bites of his spaghetti (homemade this time, Zayn was happy to be able to say).

Zayn twirled his own forkful of pasta as he let this sink in. He had gone for regular ground beef meatballs tonight; it wasn't time for more brains yet and he was occasionally in the mood for the taste of other foods. "So, you don't think it's kind of a silly thing to want to do?"

"Absolutely not!" Liam denied. "I think it'll be good for you to be involved in something. You've got so much extra time now that you don't sleep. You must be getting bored just sitting around here all day."

Zayn twisted his lips wryly but couldn't refute that. Just the other day, he'd video chatted with Liam while hanging upside down on his couch, complaining about how bored and listless he was feeling.

So he looked into it and thought about it some more and finally asked Niall for the name of the guy who had helped him out. "Just to see if it's possible," he warned, trying to get Niall to reign in his excitement.

Niall nodded vigorously. "It'll all work out, you'll see. Harry's great."

"But there's a lot I'm going to need. Like school records, exam scores, health records...."

"Mate, don't worry about it. Harry'll work his magic. You just go with it. Oh, but he'll only be able to meet you at night. He's a vampire."

And so that's how he found out about vampires.

+

Niall had told him that Harry was born in the 18th century, but not that Harry dressed like it was still the 18th century. And yet, when Zayn entered the dingy pub in one of the seedier parts of downtown, there was a guy, long hair tied back in a ponytail, in the corner dressed in a purple velvet waistcoat with gold brocade over a white shirt with a ruffled collar and cuffs who he was _positive_ was Harry Styles. He wore white tights and polished black shoes with a gold buckle and Zayn would not have been surprised if he had a cane hidden somewhere.

Zayn rolled his eyes and made his over to the table, lips twisting in a grimace at the stickiness of the floor.

"Harry Styles?" he questioned when he was standing next to the vacant chair across from the man.

The man smiled brightly and held out his hand. "Yup! You must be Zayn!"

Zayn shook his hand warily and sat down at his invitation. "You know it's the 21st century, right?"

"Yeah..." Harry said, looking confused for a second. Then he realized that Zayn was looking pointedly at his outfit. "Oh! But it's ruffles! And purple. Those never go out of style."

"I think they do, mate."

"Hm, maybe that's why people are always looking at me," Harry said thoughtfully. Then he shrugged. "Oh well. Styles will come back around eventually." Then he giggled. "Styles, get it?"

Zayn didn't really, and started wondering if maybe the vampire had gotten a little unhinged over the centuries.

When Harry had finally gotten himself under control, he took out a small flask and poured a bit of thick red liquid into his cup surreptitiously. "Pubs don't like it when you bring your own drinks," he whispered to Zayn. "But I find that a bit of blood makes the alcohol taste much better. Wanna try?" He offered to hand the flask over but Zayn declined. "It's not human blood, it's sheep." When that still didn't sway Zayn, he shrugged again and put it away.

"You don't drink human blood?" Zayn asked. That was the main reason he had decided to meet Harry during one of Liam's overnight shifts. Liam wasn't happy about it, but agreed that Zayn was probably in less danger from a vampire than Liam would be.

However, Harry shook his head. "No way, do you know what humans are putting into their blood these days? Alcohol, drugs, chemicals from processed foods. Very few of them take care of themselves properly. Their blood tastes awful. So I bought a plot of land outside the city about a hundred years ago and built a farm there. I've got sheep and cows and chickens and pigs. And I started growing fruits and vegetables to sell in the market. Everything's organic and pesticide-free. It tastes great! You should come by one day and see it."

"I - okay," Zayn said, feeling a little overwhelmed. A vampire organic farmer? But then again, here he was walking around eight months after he'd died so who was he to judge?

"Anyway, Niall told me you needed a new ID?"

Zayn nodded. "I want to go back to school and finish my degree."

Harry pursed his lips. "I'll see what I can do. Give me a couple of weeks."

And indeed, in a couple of weeks, Harry contacted him through Niall and presented him with a packet containing a new birth certificate, license, school diplomas, health records. _Zayn Kalim_ was scribbled on the outside and Zayn arched an eyebrow at Harry questioningly.

"I figured you'd want to keep as much of your old identity as possible, right?" At Zayn's nod, he continued, "I had one of my contacts hack into the government database and change the records for your old fingerprints so if you ever need to fingerprint again, you shouldn't come up as dead. Also, you have a new electronic school record up to your college courses. I put you into different schools than the ones you had actually gone to but I tried to keep your grades the same. Figured that would be fairest. You'll have to apply and start over at Uni. I'd advise you to choose a different one. You don't want to be recognized by anyone. That'd be awkward."

"Yeah, cheers, mate. Thanks for this," Zayn said, feeling taken aback by the thoroughness.

"No problem. Always happy to help out a new member of the undead society!" Harry said with a big smile. "Oh, and Niall set up a new bank account for you. He's loaned you some money and made a couple of investments on your behalf. I think they're doing pretty well, last I heard."

Zayn gaped.

After a prolonged silence, Harry said uneasily, "You need money to pay for tuition, right?"

"But how, this is too much!"

"Nonsense, us undead have to stick together. Otherwise, the humans would run the world."

"Humans _do_ run the world."

"Yeah," Harry scoffed. "That's what they think."

Zayn did not even want to go there.

+

By next Halloween, he was enrolled in the local university as a full-time student and had taken over half of Liam's closet and dresser with his clothes (some of which he had appropriated from Liam and some that he had bought himself with the money Niall helped him make through investing). He'd met Liam's family in a nerve-wracking dinner when they came to visit in the summer (he had foolishly offered to cook, thinking that would help endear him to them, but it ended up just being another source of extreme stress that he did _not_ need; Liam said they loved him after but he was a biased source so he really didn't know if his efforts were worth it).

His weekly chats with Niall had undergone a couple of name changes - from Zombie Support Meetings to Undead Support Group when Harry joined them to Undead Human Alliance when Liam and Greg, Niall's brother-in-law, started participating regularly. He somehow got named as the President of the group and retaliated by making Niall the Treasurer. Harry was their Ambassador, being the one with the most experience with both humans and supernatural creatures. Liam was their de facto secretary, because he was the one who would most often grab a piece of paper during their talks to scribble down notes and reminders. Greg swore he had enough to do taking care of Theo and threatened to maim them if they tried to give him any additional duties which just made them all smirk and scheme behind his back.

He and Liam were hosting a Halloween party for the group that year, which had also been dubbed as their first annual convention.

Niall and his family arrived a couple of days early and they helped decorate the house while Liam was working.

Harry showed up early in the evening on Halloween with a flask of blood and a teenage girl with dark curly hair who looked a little ragged. At Zayn's unimpressed look, he shrugged sheepishly. "I found her wandering in the cemetery in the next town, figured I might as well get her settled in with you guys and then help her find her family. I _am_ the Ambassador, am I not?"

Zayn rolled his eyes and ushered them both in.

However, Liam, who was coming to replenish their stock of candy for trick-or-treaters, dropped the bag of candy he was holding and exclaimed "Lottie?! Oh my god, Lottie, is that you?"

Zayn beat back the sudden flare of jealousy. Surely this newcomer wasn't here for Liam, was she? The girl tilted her head, moving slowly as though struggling against molasses, and stared blankly at Liam for a few moments. Finally, she said softly, "Liiiiaaaammm? Is...Louuuu heeere toooo?"

Liam shook his head absently. "No, he's not. Shit, I had better call him. Listen, just go with Harry and eat something, okay? I'll be right back." Then, he snagged Zayn's sleeve and pulled him into the kitchen. "That's Lottie! Louis' sister. But she died years ago, why is she back now?"

Zayn shrugged expressively, just feeling relieved that she wasn't meant to find Liam after all. He watched Liam pace a bit in the small kitchen before finally digging his phone out of his pocket and dialing Louis.

"Lou! Lou, I know you had other plans for tonight, but you need to come over. Now!" Liam barked into the phone. He listened to Louis' response and then said in an exasperated tone, " _No_ , no one's dying, you prat." Then he winced as he seemed to recall that yeah, maybe no one was _dying_ but someone _had_ died and was now back. "Just get over here. It'll only take a couple of minutes." Catching sight of Zayn's skeptical look, Liam made a face and shrugged. "Yeah, great. Cheers mate, you won't regret this. See you in a few." He hung up and then heaved a big sigh, running his hands through his hair. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Hey," Zayn said soothingly, tugging Liam over to him and batting his hands out of his hair, "it'll be fine. Don't worry." He smoothed a couple of flyaway strands back into place and gently combed through Liam's hair until he was satisfied. "There. Now it looks less like you were tearing it out in anxiety and more like we just had a heavy snogging session in here."

Liam laughed softly and leaned in to kiss him. "You're the best."

Zayn preened. "I know."

A loud crash from the other room pulled them out of their little bubble and they both peered out worryingly to see that Harry had fallen and knocked over the floor lamp and Niall was trying to pull him back up but the two of them were laughing too hard for him to be successful. Near them, Lottie was holding a plate of spaghetti and brains and looked highly amused at the situation.

"What's going on?" Liam asked mock-sternly. Zayn looked over and saw that he was trying to bite back a smile.

"Sorry, Liam!" Niall called out, trying to catch his breath. "We were telling Lottie about midnight golfing and Harry was showing off his swing and he tripped."

Harry waved from the floor and made no move to get up on his own, instead holding out his hands and wiggling his fingers impatiently at Niall. The blonde finally got himself under control and grasped Harry's hand, only to be pulled down as well. He cackled as he landed half on Harry and half on the floor which set Harry off again.

Liam rolled his eyes and shifted his attention to the newest member of the undead. "Hey, Lottie, you doing okay there?"

She turned and gave him a small nod. "Yeah, thanks. The food's really helping."

Zayn grinned. "Yeah, it's the brains. They're like multivitamins for zombies."

"Wait, what?" she asked, looking hesitantly down at her plate. "These are _brains_? Eww."

"You didn't know?"

She shook her head, gesturing behind her where Niall and Harry were now cuddling on the floor, their original intentions of getting up seemingly forgotten. "They just told me to eat it and that I'd feel better after."

"And?"

"...I guess I do feel better. But still," she said, wrinkling her nose, " _yuck_."

Zayn laughed. "You get used to it." Beside him, Liam nodded too. He had tried the brains a couple of times and while he admitted that they tasted alright, he insisted that they save it for Zayn who was the one who really needed it.

The doorbell rang and Liam hurried over. "That'll be your brother, Lottie."

"Oh!" the girl said, setting aside her plate and smoothing down her dress. "How do I look?" she asked Zayn anxiously.

Zayn bit his lip, feeling that _"like you just crawled out of your grave"_ was not the answer she was looking for. "You look great," he finally said. She did actually look better than when she had first arrived with Harry. She now had a bit of color in her cheeks, her eyes were lively and her speech was more fluid, though Zayn didn't know if Louis would be able to appreciate all of these improvements.

Then Louis was being shown into the room by Liam and Lottie shrieked "Louis!" and leapt at him, throwing her arms out to hug him.

"WHAT THE - ?!" Louis yelped, stumbling backward out of reach and holding his arms up as if to ward her off. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!"

Lottie looked hurt. "Louis, it's me. I woke up a couple of hours ago in a cemetery and Harry found me and brought me here."

But Louis ignored her and turned to Liam and Zayn with lightning in his eyes. "What kind of SICK joke is this? Where did you even find someone who looked like her? You better have a good explanation for this or I swear to god, I'm gonna kill you."

At that, Zayn reflexively snarled, stepping up protectively in front of Liam. He'd be damned if he was going to let Liam get hurt while he was around.

"What? No!" Liam exclaimed. He squeezed Zayn's shoulder tightly and tried to step around him but Zayn shifted to keep him covered. Damn Liam and his foolhardy trusting ways. Liam let out a put-upon sigh but did stop trying to get around Zayn. "Lou, you're missing the point!"

"What? That I thought you were my best friend and here you are _betraying_ that friendship with this, this _fuckery_?!"

"No! Lou, don't be so dramatic!"

" _Dramatic?!_ " Louis screeched. "You've got someone posing as my dead sister in your Halloween party!"

"It's not an impostor!" Liam cried out.

"Louis!" Lottie jumped in, grabbing hold of his arm and spinning him around. "It's really me! Look, I'm _sorry_ for surprising you like this, but it's me! It's Lottie! Your sister! Look, see for yourself!"

Louis froze but scanned over her features intently. Then he paled and reached out lightly to brush over her cheek. "Lottie?! But you, you're dead! I, we _buried_ you!" he said faintly.

"It's not a joke, Louis," Lottie said earnestly, cupping her hand over his and gripping his fingers tightly.

"I - but I -" Louis cut himself off and looked her over again, finally shaking his head in disbelief. "No, it's definitely you. That's even the dress we put you in for the burial."

Lottie looked down at her dress and smiled softly. "My favorite dress."

"Yeah," Louis said, sounding choked up now. "But how is this possible?"

"It's called being a zombie, mate. Don't you ever watch apocalypse movies?" Zayn said with a slight smirk.

Louis turned and glowered at him. "And _you_ know so much about it?"

"Well, I should, seeing as I _am_ one."

Louis gaped. "You are _not_!" At Zayn's nod, Louis slid his eyes over to Liam, who nodded with a cringe.

"Sorry, Lou, didn't want you to find out like this," Liam said, rubbing his neck sheepishly.

"I don't believe it." Louis shook his head emphatically. "You've been around for months! Why aren't you rotting to pieces? Or walking around eating people's brains? You're _not_ walking around eating people's brains, are you?"

"It's the twenty-first century, Louis. They sell them in butcher shops."

"So..." Louis started faintly. "You buy brains in the local butchery. And then you...what, cook them in your pots and pans?"

"Well, yeah, I'm not going to eat them raw," Zayn drawled. He was enjoying this big reveal more than he thought he would. "Now are you gonna hug your undead sister or do I have to rip my arm out of its socket and beat you with it?"

Outrage and curiosity warred over Louis' features. Finally, curiosity appeared to win out as Louis asked "Can you really do that?"

Zayn shrugged. He'd never tried but he thought that theoretically, it should be possible.

"Here, Lou," Liam said, coming around Zayn and guiding Louis - and Lottie, since they had yet to let go of each other - over to the couch. "Sit. I'll get you something to drink."

"Make it strong," Louis rasped, turning back to Lottie as if he was afraid she was going to disappear at any second.

"Uh-huh, I don't think so," Liam muttered, heading over to the punch bowl. If Louis heard, he let it slide.

Harry, however, called out urgently from the floor, "Wait, not the punch! I, er, I spiked it."

"With what?" Liam asked with not a little exasperation. 

Harry shook his ever-present silver flask of blood with a smirk. "Makes everything taste better! But probably not for humans."

"Yeah, probably not," Liam said and detoured to the kitchen to get a bottle of beer from the fridge for Louis.

They spent the rest of the night explaining, sometimes with practical demonstrations, the existence of zombies and vampires to Louis. No one actually tore any limbs off but Zayn did dislocate his shoulder and then got Liam to pop it back into place, which Louis watched with disgusted awe.

And that was how Louis and Lottie became the newest members of the Undead Human Alliance.

+

They took Lottie to see her mom the next day, because she said she had this "strong urge, like an itch that I can't reach" to see her, though they all warned her that her mother may not react as well as Louis had. Lottie had scoffed. "Right, well, if mum shrieks like a little girl, at least she used to be one." Louis socked her in the arm for that. And then paled and apologized when he heard the sound of one of her bones cracking.

Zayn couldn't help giggling at the mix of horror and nausea that was on Louis' face but Liam hurried over with their first aide kit, reassuring both Louis and Lottie that everything would be fine, and that it was just that Lottie's bones were still pretty fragile since she was so fresh from the grave. He gently splinted her arm and Zayn heated up a couple of their emergency brain nuggets for her.

Once that was taken care of, they piled into two cars - Louis and Lottie riding in the back of Liam's car with Zayn in the front passenger seat and Niall and Harry following in Niall's rental. Greg and his wife had chosen to stay behind as they didn't want to wake Theo from his nap.

When they got to Mrs. Tomlinson's house, Louis and Lottie made their way to the front door and knocked while the others loitered on her lawn, wanting to give the family some privacy and to not overwhelm her with a huge crowd. However, Zayn was close enough to see when Lottie threw her arms around her very surprised (but strangely accepting) mother in a hug...and then reared back and sank her teeth into her mother's shoulder.

Chaos broke out then: Mrs. Tomlinson cried out in pain; Louis yelped and grabbed hold of Lottie's arms and tried to pull her off; Lottie bit down harder and drew blood; Liam, Zayn, Niall, and Harry yelled and all converged on the trio and grasped whatever limbs they could, just trying to separate everyone.

Some time later, they all sat, shaken, around the living room. Louis' mother had a towel pressed to the wound in her shoulder which was still oozing a bit of blood.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that," Lottie said, staring down at the floor morosely. "Something just came over me. It was like I wasn't in control of myself anymore."

"Oh, baby," Louis' mother said tearfully, "I don't know how this is possible, but I'm just so glad to see you."

"Is mum gonna be okay?" Louis asked, looking anxiously at Zayn, Niall, and Harry. 

Zayn and Niall looked at each other blankly and it was Harry who finally said slowly, "I'll have to double check with my sources but I think a bite from a zombie could...er, turn someone into a zombie."

"A...zombie. So mum might become a zombie?! But what about the girls? Who's going to raise them?" Louis asked a little hysterically, to which his mother started tearing up. "Oh, mum, don't worry, I'm sure we'll figure something out. Maybe there's a way to reverse it."

But his mother only shook her head harder. "I was going to tell you soon anyway, but I just saw the doctor and he told me -" she broke off into a sob, then visibly pulled herself back together with a deep breath. "I have cancer, baby. And it's pretty far along. The girls don't know yet, I sent them to stay over with their friends this weekend. I just needed some time to deal with the news before I told you all. So I don't think I'll be able to raise them anyway."

"What? No!" Louis said, paling. "You can't, that's not possible. You're too young!"

"I'm sorry, Lou," she said tearfully.

Louis got up and went over to hug his mother tightly, whispering fiercely to her. Lottie watched the scene with wide eyes until Niall gestured for her to go join them. She got up and hesitantly went over to her mother and brother and was pulled into their hug immediately. Zayn and the others quietly left to give the family some time alone.

+

So it turned out that Lottie didn't come back for Louis after all, but rather for their mother.

Harry consulted a contact in Asia who confirmed that zombies could be made from a bite. She then cheerfully wished Harry luck on "controlling the zombie outbreak" which left Harry eyeing the rest of them warily until Zayn snapped and told him he in no way felt any urges to bite someone and draw blood because ew, how unsanitary was that? Harry made an outraged noise at that and said "How rude! That's a perfectly fine way to live life as long as you're not hurting anyone!" and that was the end of those tensions.

During the course of the next month, Mrs. Tomlinson had gotten progressively paler and more sickly looking. Louis took a leave of absence from work to help take care of his younger siblings while Zayn and Lottie monitored her condition, comparing her symptoms with theirs when they first woke up. Finally, she went to sleep one night and didn't wake up for two days; her heart rate had slowed significantly but remained steady and her breathing had become shallow but she appeared to be comfortable. Lottie stayed anxiously by her bedside the whole time and gave regular updates to Louis when he could distract their younger sisters long enough to make a private phone call. When their mother woke up, she reported that she lost color vision and couldn't hear very well. Her skin was dry and cracked and her bones felt brittle. She had a craving for something but couldn't say what it was. Zayn and Lottie decided on a trial of brains and when she fell on that ravenously, they declared the transformation complete.

And the Undead Human Alliance gained gained their first zombie-convert, though she was often too busy raising three young girls to join them in their virtual meetings.

+

Their group expanded rapidly after that. Harry's contact that he had consulted referred a couple of zombies to them, which inspired Harry to contact more vampires that he knew to see if there were yet more zombies out there needing support.

It turned out there were little pockets of undead living in human communities all over the world.

Their local alliance soon turned into an international organization, with a council of leaders comprised of regional representatives (to Zayn's consternation, he was one of them) and a membership census numbering in the hundreds, including both vampires and zombies. They started holding annual conventions, booking out entire hotels and paying for extreme privacy so that no employees were around to witness their parties (since often limbs would go flying as zombies raved on the dance floor) and the aftermath (in which they'd all hunt down their scattered limbs and get them sewn back on before they could leave the room). 

It wasn't _all_ fun, though. The conventions also served as a time for all of them to hear about news pertaining to them, meet new members, and get updates on undead-related research (there were teams in Japan and Germany looking into isolating specific brain proteins that were responsible for the regenerative properties of zombies in the interest of synthetically replicating them so they weren't reliant on local butchers to have fresh brains; there were also teams in Australia and Hungary that were looking at possible blood substitutes for vampires).

Zayn and the rest of the council unanimously voted against turning lab rats, bunnies, or monkeys into vampires or zombies for the purpose of research, shuddering at the thought of uncontrollable undead animals running around forever and probably turning all kinds of creatures.

They also, after lengthy discussions (some of which became outright fights in which limbs were thrown at each other after pens and other small projectiles were used up), had set some basic rules for their members:  
1\. No feeding on live humans (for brains or blood)  
2\. No turning humans all willy-nilly (every convert was to be made thoughtfully and with fully informed consent)  
3\. No killing of humans (or each other)  
4\. No interviews with media outlets about being a vampire or a zombie  
5\. Anyone who learns about any other supernatural creature must tell the council immediately

They were now trying to work out how to provide scholarships for members to return to school as some of them had expressed interest in getting further education and obtaining graduate or professional degrees. The council all agreed that it was to all of their benefit to have members involved in research, medicine, law, business, and engineering but the more complicated question was how to fund all of that without raising suspicion of where the money was coming from; also how to get around the dead identity problem.

And so Zayn, who had once been just a uni student majoring in teaching, was now a uni student majoring in teaching and also one of the rulers of the supernatural world.

+

**A few years later**

It was the first day of Zayn's second year as a secondary school English teacher and he (for once) wasn't running late, but Liam was. He sat back with his bowl of cereal and watched with amusement as his hopefully-soon-to-be fiancé-and-fellow-zombie rushed around getting ready for yet another day as fire chief in this new town of theirs. Liam had been offered the promotion right around the time that Zayn was about to graduate uni so it had worked out well, especially as Zayn was no longer aging and they really didn't know how much longer they could stay before the jokes about eternal youth became incredulous questioning and scientific inquiry. Zayn had learned how to use make-up to make himself appear older but there was only so much it could do.

"You're back early tonight, yeah?" he asked, interrupting Liam's flow of movements as he packed up a lunch of leftover chicken korma from yesterday's dinner.

"Yeah, why, got a hot date planned?" Liam threw over his shoulder with a smirk.

"Maybe..." Zayn trailed off with a leer, knowing that Liam was watching his reflection in the window over the sink.

Liam rolled his eyes but turned with a fond smile. "Can't wait, babe. We'll celebrate the start of your second year as the best teacher in the world." _And our engagement and eternal future together, hopefully,_ Zayn added mentally. Liam came over and brushed a chaste kiss over his lips; Zayn wanted to protest but knew that anything more would just lead to both of them being late to work. Liam winked at him. "Don't think I didn't notice all the oysters, chocolate, pomegranates, red wine, and vanilla ice cream you've stocked up on." Zayn shrugged, unabashed. If all went as planned, they were going to have some very good news to celebrate tonight. "I've gotta go, though, have a good first day! Don't forget to take your pills!"

As Liam hurried out the door, Zayn reached into his pocket and fingered the ring he'd been holding onto for the past week - a small band of diamonds bordered by two bands of white gold. He'd picked it out when he was supposed to be finishing up his lesson plans at school. It was perhaps more than they should be able to afford on a fire chief's and a secondary school teacher's salary (being one of the leaders of the undead surprisingly didn't pay well) but the investments Niall was still making for him were doing very well. 

Mindful of Liam's parting reminder, Zayn snagged the small prescription bottle from the far end of the table labeled simply BSZ25a (Brain Substitute for Zombies, lot #25a) and swallowed one with a sip of juice. This formulation was the fifth one they've tested but so far, it seemed to be the most effective. He'd been able to go four weeks now without any fresh brains, though they did still keep an emergency stash in the freezer, and he only had to take one pill a day. 

He turned his attention back to the International Supernatural News Newsletter in front of him and skimmed over the main articles, making a note to send an update to the research team in Japan about the supplement trial. 

This life after death was turning out pretty good for him, all in all. 

**Author's Note:**

> So, I don't know much about zombies but I started thinking 'what if zombie-ism is like any treatable chronic illness where zombies can live normally as long as they take their meds?' and that's what inspired this whole thing. Along the way, I made up a bunch of zombie lore and had tons of fun doing it. Some of it is based on what I thought I remembered from movies and books about supernatural creatures but some of it I just pulled out of thin air.
> 
> [This](http://www.bostoncostume.com/images/products/4840.jpg) is the outfit Harry was wearing when Zayn first met him. And [this](http://diamondringlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/engagement-rings-for-men-images.jpg) is the engagement ring Zayn had picked out for Liam.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed it! Thank you to everyone who gave this a shot and read it. I don't have a beta but I do want to improve on my writing so please feel free to let me know what did or didn't work in this fic.
> 
> Come say hi on [tumblr](http://likealeafonthewind.tumblr.com) or [LJ](http://todriftornot.livejournal.com)! :)


End file.
